Mar 27, 2014 | Events, News, Publications, Reports, Seminar and conference reports
The ICJ hosted over 40 human rights defenders (HRDs) from Southern, Eastern and Western Africa to deliberate on strategies for enhancing the protection of human rights and human rights defenders.
The event took place on 27-28 March 2014 in Tswane, Pretoria.
Several African dignitaries attended the strategy session, including various independent experts from the African Union and United Nations focusing on protection and promotion of the work of human rights defenders.
This reflection session came in the wake of the increased sophistication of acts that undermine the independent, safe and secure operation of human rights defenders in Africa.
These acts include restrictive and punitive legislative enactments, in countries such as Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya, and extra judicial killings and enforced disappearances in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, and South Sudan.
Other acts undermining the work and security of human rights defenders include the prohibition of access to funding; defamatory labeling of HRDs as “spies”, “unpatriotic”, “traitors”, and “foreign agents”; and the passing of laws criminalizing homosexuality.
The Universally acclaimed Declaration on Human Rights Defenders has recorded a greater number of breaches in recent times than before.
There is an increasing need for defenders to identify and reflect on opportunities to strengthen their collective responses and to provide rapid in-country and regional support and solidarity that nurtures a spirit of resilience, collectiveness and camaraderie within universally accepted norms of the defence of human rights.
Contact
Arnold Tsunga, Director, ICJ Africa Regional Programme, Arnold.tsunga(a)icj.org, +27731318411, or
Martin Okumu-Masiga, Deputy Director, ICJ Afria Regional Programme, Martin.okumu-masiga(a)icj.org, +27110248268 (full text in PDF)
Southern Africa-Strategic Session rapide response-Publications-Workshop report-2015-ENG (full text in PDF)
Dec 6, 2013 | News
The ICJ mourns with the rest of the world the passing on of former President Nelson Mandela.
He was a beacon of hope, justice and peace in the world and will be sorely missed. His life will remain a source of inspiration for our work in pursuit of justice, peace, tolerance and respect for human rights in the world.
Dec 3, 2013 | Agendas, Events
The ICJ was at the Club de la Presse in Geneva for a roundtable ahead of the Fourth ICJ Geneva Forum of Judges and Lawyers. The event was live streamed.
Moderated by Leah Hoctor, Senior Legal Adviser at ICJ, the event was a unique opportunity to share the real life experiences of two African women, who have overcome the challenges of poverty and discrimination to become two of Africa’s most senior and admired judges.
Justice Yvonne Mokgoro (photo) was the first black woman judge in South Africa and a former justice of its post-apartheid Constitutional Court.
Justice Lilian Tibatemwa-Ekirikabinza is an academic leader in Uganda. She was the first Ugandan woman to qualify for an award of a Ph.D. in Law.
The Press Club event came ahead of the Fourth ICJ Geneva Forum of Judges and Lawyers on 5-6 December.
The Forum is convened annually by the ICJ’s Centre for Independence of Judges and Lawyers, bringing together legal practitioners from around the world to help safeguard the independence and impartiality of the judiciary and the legal profession.
This year’s forum promotes the role of women in the judiciary, focusing particularly on women judges and lawyers from Africa and the Middle East.
It forms part of a broader ICJ initiative on women judges, lawyers and human rights defenders as agents of change.
Watch the event here:
![Arthur Chaskalson mourned]()
Dec 3, 2012 | News
It was with great sadness that the ICJ learned of the death of its former President Arthur Chaskalson at the age of 81 this weekend.
A renowned human rights lawyer and a tenacious opponent of the apartheid government, Arthur Chaskalson was part of Nelson Mandela’s defence team in the 1963 Rivonia Trial, which saw Mandela and other ANC leaders sentenced to life.
He then helped establish the Legal Resources Centre, a non-profit organization seeking to use the law to pursue justice and human rights around South Africa. He ran the Centre from 1978 until 1993.
President of South Africa’s Constitutional Court (1994-2001), Chaskalson became Chief Justice of the same court from 2001 to 2005, after which he retired.
He was elected as an ICJ Comissioner in 1995 and served as President of the organization from 2002 to 2008.
In 2005, the ICJ convened the Eminent Jurists Panel, comprising eight leading international experts who spent three years conducting a worldwide investigation into the impact of counter-terrorism laws and practice on human rights globally.
Arthur Chaskalson chaired the panel, which held 16 hearings covering forty countries in all regions of the world.
Chaskalson also played a major role in the panel’s report, which concluded that many States had confronted the threat of terrorism with ill-conceived measures undermining the Rule of Law and human rights, which has proved to be an important reference for the post 9/11 era.
